Once COVID-19 hit, we were all sent home. This meant your kitchen was your new favorite restaurant, your bedroom was your new office and your living room was your new gym. Although the world is starting to open up again, some activities may still be safer to do at home. I know I will be exercising at home for the foreseeable future. So, let’s talk about how to make your home workout more effective.
If you are feeling stuck on how to make your home workout more effective, I am here to help! Try switching up your home workout routine by doing these five things:
Total body workouts
Want to get the most out of a quick home workout? Work everything! Total body workouts are the way to go. You should try to engage at least 3 muscles groups in one workout. Bonus points if you can engage that many muscles in one exercise. If you are doing squats, add an overhead press at the top to activate your shoulders and core. Do calf raises while you complete your bicep curls to work the lower leg. It is that simple. Don’t feel like creating your own total body workouts? Check out my 2-Week Mini Band Sculpt Plan. I’ve created some incredible total body workouts for you in that 14-day home workout program. Those workout will certainly make your home workout more effective.
More up & down
Doing cardio at home is really not that hard! Add more up and down to your workouts. Do a standing circuit for 5-minutes and then move to the ground to do some exercises on the floor. So long as you don’t feel dizzy, keep moving up and down throughout your workout.
Mess with tempo
This is one of my favorite ways to challenge my muscles in a workout. Move fast. Slow it down. Do pause reps. Add some jumps. Messing with the speed of your reps is not only fun, but also it will make your workout 10x more difficult.
Mess with range of motion (ROM)
This is another cool way us trainers make workouts more challenging. Take one exercise and tweak it slightly by altering the ROM. Do some pulsing reps or one and a half reps. Do deep squats and shallow squats. Try different things! You can do one exercise so many different ways.
Switch up the angle
Finally, change your approach. If you are used to doing back lunges, try doing curtsy lunges or wide lunges with your leg out to the side. If you are used to doing basic bicep curls, do a hammer curl or a wide curl instead! Changing the angle will help you hit different muscles!